NV Rita’s Pet Nat

750ML Crown Cap

Field Blend (Syrah, Chard, Pinot Gris, more)

Sonoma Valley

11% ABV

ØØ

Foot tread and whole cluster carbonic

fermentation in stainless pressed through small

basket press

48 cases

In the mid 80’s Mario Raffin planted about 2 acres of a mixed field blend on their property on Fisher Ln just off Broadway. This old family vineyard saw dozens of harvests with friends and family and great traditional family winemaking. When Mario passed in 2012, his children had little interest in maintaining the vineyard. So the labor and grapes went to a slew of home winemakers for 10 years. Unfortunately they also did a poor job keeping the vines healthy and vibrant, so the place went into a bit a disarray. I took over the vineyard lease in 2022 and immediately began restoring the top soil with cover crops, sheep grazing and compost. Mostly half of the vineyard has been removed due to excessive eutypa and dead wood. Over the years we’ve seen great improvement in the soil health, even turning most of the dead wood into biochar and replacing back into the vine rows. The regenerative practices here are a true passion project, but also a proof of concept. I have not done a single spray in the vineyard this year. And the replacement vines (sometimes restarted from just a small ground sucker. Are revitalized with great vigor. The Rita’s Field Blend was made to showcase this study and work. This shows that bottles purchased go to help continue this regenerative practice and small scale ecology project.